MOLAA’S INAUGURAL LIVE ART AUCTION

LOT #22PEPE LÓPEZ (Venezuela, b. 1966)Luna plástica #8 / Plastic Moon #8, 2008Vinyl adhesive tape over fiberglass sphere23 5/8 in. (60 cm) diameterGift of the artist, courtesy of Henrique Faria Fine Art, New YorkPhotograph: Lang Photography, Laugna BeachEstimated price: $7,000-$9,000Since the 1990s, the work of Pepe López (José Luis López-Reus) has dealt with environmental and socialissues, informed by consumerism and contemporary forms of communication such as the internet. Lópezalludes to the aesthetic of popular crafts and the colors used by abstract geometric artists such as JesúsRafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez, and Alejandro Otero, referencing also that these visual traditions are present incontemporary art production due to the fact that they are embedded in the subconscious of Venezuelanartists.Luna plástica #8, 2008, belongs to the series Big Bang Boom, in which López accounts for, in differentdimensions and versions, the 14,000 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. López walks through the city of Caracaspicking up objects he finds on the streets, such as plastic water tanks that he prepares so they form the shapeof a sphere, and then wraps them in hundreds of meters of color vinyl tape, which represent the trajectories ofdebris and space junk orbiting around them, as well as the invisible orbits of satellite communication.Lopéz studied civil engineering at the Universidad Metropolitana de Caracas and began a Doctorate ofPhilosophy in the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, which he later abandoned to continue his artisticcareer. Selected exhibitions include: Double Perspectives, Maddox Arts, London, England, 2008; CartografíasMeridionales, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario, Argentina, 2008; Utopías, Galería 39, Caracas,Venezuela, 2007; Boom, Galería Fernando Zubillaga, Caracas, 2006; and Imagen y Movimiento, Estoc d’art,Barcelona, Spain, 2002. Lopéz lives and works in Caracas.24